Mr. LaRussa joined Azalea Capital in May 2008 as a Partner in
connection with the formation of Azalea III and is actively involved
with all of the firm’s investing activities. He has an extensive
background owning and operating businesses ranging from financial
services to industrial distribution and various consumer packaged goods
companies. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Jack’s Family
Restaurants, Inc., Cobbs, Allen & Hall, Inc., Security Engineers,
Inc., American Pipe and Supply Company, Inc., and First Commercial
Bank, a subsidiary of Synovus Financial Corporation in Birmingham,
Alabama.
Mr. LaRussa is the Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Capital
Management, a multi-asset holding company, and Co-founder and Chairman
of Fenwick Capital Group, an investment firm focused on consumer
packaged goods (which is a co-investor with Azalea II in Spartan Foods
of America, Inc.). Prior to these positions, he was a commercial banker
with AmSouth Bank (now Regions Bank) and First Commercial Bank in
Birmingham, Alabama. In 1991, he co-founded Canterbury Trust Company,
Inc., also in Birmingham, which was acquired by Synovus Financial
Corporation, a financial services holding company in 1999. He also was
a member of the Board of Directors of Bruno’s Inc. for 10 years until
the company was sold in 1995.
A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Mr. LaRussa received a Bachelor of
Science in Finance from Auburn University in 1982 and a Masters in
Public and Private Management from Birmingham Southern-College in 1986.
He is a Member of the Board of Directors for St. Vincent’s Hospital
Health Systems and a trustee for Birmingham-Southern College, and is
active with Juvenile Diabetes and the Monday Morning Quarterback Club. |
